


Dog Days

by SummerLeighWind



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Animal Death, Bullying, Cats, Childhood, Crying, Dogs, F/M, Falling In Love, Gen, Growing Up, Growing Up Together, Hogwarts, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Kissing, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Stillbirth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-26 13:58:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2654570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerLeighWind/pseuds/SummerLeighWind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of a sister, Petunia got a dog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dog Days

Instead of a sister, Petunia got a puppy. There was a reason for this, she would understand with time, but right now as she clutched her new, squirming, nippy pet she couldn't help but ask, "Why can't I have a sister _and_ a puppy, Daddy?"

Her father looked at her and Petunia's stomach began to twist at the sight of his quivering mouth. Her daddy _never_ cried. As she hid her face into the fur of her new puppy, he turned away from Petunia and laid his head down on the kitchen table. Petunia sucked on her lower lip, uncertain. Finally, she decided she would try and ask one more time why she couldn't have a sister and a puppy. Juggling her new puppy to the crook of one her knobby elbows, Petunia shuffled to her father's side and gave his wrinkled shirt a tug.

"Daddy?" she whispered. "Why can't I have both?"

Lifting his head, her father didn't even look at her as he called out, "Gladys!"

A moment later as Petunia half-listened for an answer while trying to stop her puppy from nibbling on her fingers, her grandma came in. Putting guiding hands on Petunia's shoulders, Grandma began to push her toward the doorway. "Why don't you take your new puppy out to play in the yard, hmm?" she suggested with the same sugary voice that Mummy used when something was wrong.

Petunia was too little to say no. She was too little to demand the answers that were being kept from her. But she was too old to throw a tantrum as well, so, despite her dislike of the idea, she went. Out in the yard, she sat down in the late December snow and watched as her puppy frolicked.

Feeling a little smile tug at her lips when the pup brought her a twig to play catch with, she pet his white and black head and declared, "You're Pudgy. I think you look like a Pudgy."

Yapping his pleasure, Pudgy ran after the stick when Petunia threw it across the yard. They would spend much of the rest of the winter like this. Playing in the yard as Petunia's parents drifted from room to room inside their home as the light slowly left their eyes.

* * *

Ten years old and very much an only child, Petunia went to her mother who was in the kitchen and said, "It's time for Pudgy's walk, Mum."

Red hair coiffed for a dinner later in the evening, Petunia's mother did not turn away from the food she was cooking. "I'm making dinner for you, where's your father?"

She shrugged. Her daddy worked late most days and she had yet to see him pull up in their drive. "He's not home yet."

Scowling, Petunia's mother wiped her hands on her apron and growled, "So help me if he makes us late!"

"What about Pudgy? He expects his walk, you know."

Making an irritated noise in the back of her throat, her mother turned on Petunia and raged, "It's always that damn dog with you! If he needs a walk, just take him! You're ten years old for God's sake! You don't need help!"

Glaring back at her mother with clenched fists and grinding teeth, Petunia turned heel without saying a word and found Pudgy waiting for her with his lead in his mouth.

Laughing softly, Petunia got down on her knees and hugged him around his neck. "Attaboy."

In response to her praise, Pudgy licked her cheek and Petunia put on her rain galoshes before they went out for their evening stroll. As they walked the perpetually grim streets of Cokeworth, Petunia decided to veer from the usual footpath she took with her mother and father. Pudgy noticed this and barked his approval before he went to work smelling the ground and rubbish all around them on their new path.

As they traveled, Petunia's eyes began to dart everywhere as she realized how much dirtier everything was the farther down the walk they traveled. The streets, to the houses, to the (few) cars sagging by the curb all seemed to have a fine coat of grime that she knew wasn't there on her own street.

"Pudgy…" Petunia mumbled fearfully. This was more than a bit not good, she didn't know where they were!

The black and white dog cocked his head at her. A moment later, Pudgy abandoned his sniffing and returned to her side. He then licked the back of her hand then, causing Petunia to giggle and feel a little better. At least she wasn't alone

Her dog wasn't big and strong like a Mastiff, but he wasn't tiny as a Scottish terrier either. Pudgy would protect her if it came down to it. He _would_. She didn't call him her best friend for nothing, after all.

Continuing their walk at a quick trot, Petunia spied the park her parents used to take her to when she was very small. Stopping, she wondered if she could find a way home from here, then, among the swings she spied a little boy who couldn't be older than five or six. Petunia frowned. What was he doing out here alone? A lad his age should have gone home to his mum hours ago.

As she was noticing him, the lad began to notice her too (if the way he stopped in his swinging was any indication). Wistfully, Petunia thought of the sister she lost. She would be about his age now. It truly was a shame that she had to get tangled in her umbilical cord while in Mum's stomach. The familiar sadness that always came with thinking of her dead sister overcoming Petunia, she had to force herself to focus once more on the little boy in front of her. She noticed he was staring at Pudgy. Putting on a friendly smile, she made her expression as pleasant as possible so he knew he could come and pet her dog.

Understanding what her smile meant immediately, he eagerly jumped from the swing he'd been playing on and approached. He held out his hand for Pudgy to smell. Not even bothering to sniff it, her dog put his paw in the little hand causing the child to gasp.

"Shake it," Petunia told him.

The boy did.

Pudgy took his paw back and gave one of his patent doggy smiles. Grinning herself, Petunia gave the child's oversized clothes, dirty hair and bruised face a once over before deciding he was the least likely sort her parents would want her to associate with.

Not that she cared.

"This is Pudgy and I'm Petunia," she offered to the boy.

Blinking lightless eyes, the child mumbled back, "Severus."

"A pleasure," she replied as she crouched down beside Pudgy. "So, do you play here a lot?"

The boy's face went to a carefully neutral expression as he gave a mute nod. Petunia didn't believe him then, but she hoped he might know how to get to Florist Terrace.

"Do you know the direction I'd have to go to get back to Florist Terrace?"

He bobbed his little head and said, "You take a right at the end of the street, and turn on to Weaver Lane and then Florist is off there somewhere."

"Thank you." Petunia smiled as she gave Pudgy a nudge to lick the little boy.

Her dog did as told, earning a gaped-tooth smile from Severus. Petunia remembered that time. When her baby teeth were falling out left and right. From pictures, she knew she had looked absolutely ridiculous, but that didn't stop the faint feeling of nostalgic pride that swelled in her chest. There was nothing like feeling you were one step closer to adulthood.

"I see Pudgy likes you," she commented.

Dark eyes sparking with something a bit like hope, the boy patted her dog's head. "D'you walk him this way a lot?"

"I can," she agreed for him. "Every day."

The grin that split his tiny face told her she had said the right thing and Petunia was relieved. How long had she gone without another child for a friend? Too long, she mused. At this point, it didn't matter if he was a little dirty and a might poorer. Nor did she care that he could possibly be the dark-half of the sister she lost because he needed a bit of joy and Petunia and Pudgy needed a new friend.

* * *

As they made their daily walk to the Park off Spinner's End, Petunia took in the fact that Pudgy was walking much slower than he had just the month past - not to mention the year past. She hated to admit it, but her dear friend was getting old. Reaching down, she pet his head which made him glance up with his baleful green eyes. She was going to miss him when he died. Hopefully, they could stave it off for a couple more years at least...

Coming up to the park, she waved her free arm when she saw Severus atop the climbing structure. The boy raised a hand before jumping down to approach.

"Hi," he greeted.

Reaching under her arm, she pulled out a newspaper-wrapped package decorated with a pretty green ribbon. "I didn't have money for wrapping paper," Petunia admitted. "Babysitting isn't as profitable as one would think."

Taking it gingerly, the boy shrugged. "I don't mind," he told her. "Mum doesn't even bother to buy presents anymore."

"I hate when you say things like that..." Petunia muttered as her friend was distracted in his endeavors to save the ribbon and paper as he undid the tape. Once revealed, he smiled.

"A scarf and hat," he remarked with true appreciation. "I haven't had a hat in years."

Petunia blushed as Pudgy wormed his way between the two. "I know," she replied.

Dark eyes gentle, Severus whispered, "Thanks, Petunia."

"You're welcome."

Reaching down, the boy pet Pudgy and told the animal, "Look what your owner got me. Isn't it nice? It's a perfect green too. I can definitely wear these for Hogwarts next year."

"So you're going?" Petunia inquired as her heart gave a pang.

He nodded as he reached into his pocket to pull out a very official looking letter. "I got my acceptance letter," he admitted. "I'm just hoping I'll get to see my new sibling before I leave."

"Oh," Petunia mumbled sadly.

Severus wasn't good at touching, but he gave her a hug despite this, as he declared, "This doesn't change the fact that you're my best friend."

"Doesn't it, though? I can't go with you, you know. I'm just a plain old muggle."

"Don't say that! Never say that!" Severus barked. "You're way more than some ' _plain old muggle'_." He sneered. "You're the nicest person I know, you talk to me like I'm an equal, and you know how to knit wicked scarfs and hats and sweaters and blankets and - and best of all, _dogs like you_."

She raised an eyebrow at the last praise.

Smirking, the dark-haired boy told Petunia, "I read somewhere dogs are a good judge of character."

Looking to Pudgy as he chewed his leg, the two laughed at how strange that seemed. What good a judge was a dog? They chased leaves, licked their private bits and ate rabbit turds. They definitely weren't smart creatures.

"I'm going to miss you, Petunia," Severus sniffed suddenly.

Resting her head on top of the boy's, Petunia took his hand and squeezed it. "I will too."

* * *

Walking the narrow halls of her daughter's school, Petunia's mother's heels clicked against the tile as they strode out of the building at a quick pace. Coming to the family car, where her father was in the driver's seat, her mum stopped her before she could open the door to the backseat.

"What on earth got into you, Petunia?"

Not looking her mother in the eyes, she ground out, "Nothing!"

Grabbing her chin with pink-painted nails, her mother's lined eyes studied her face. "Love, what happened?"

Yanking the door to the backseat open, she screamed. "He slapped my bum, okay? I was walking down the hall and he slapped my bum like I'm some sort of - of _cow_!" Furious tears leaking down her cheeks, she looked past her mother's shocked face and climbed into the car.

She refused to speak all the way home and once at home, she went straight to her room where Pudgy was dozing on her bed. Going to her dog, she kicked off her Mary Jane's and hugged him around the middle.

Waking, Pudgy licked her face and Petunia sobbed. They'd suspended her for kneeing him in the nads and the teacher was threatening expulsion if she didn't write a letter of apology for it. She couldn't do this. Not any longer. She _hated_ school and would rather just drop out over going back again.

Once finished with her crying, she went to her desk and opened the letter from Severus she received last night. Shaking her head, she felt her heart shatter again as he admitted to boys from another house hexing him to have bats fly from his nose. Neither of them was meant for people, she realized then. They were both too strange with their own hang-ups and didn't belong with the regular populous.

A knock came from her door. Turning her head, she saw it was her mother.

"Yes?" she demanded in a voice far too sullen and rebellious for her tear-stained countenance.

Arms crossed, the woman said, "I called the school, they said you didn't tell them he-he-"

"Slapped my bum?"

Swallowing back distaste, her mother nodded and Petunia watched with wary eyes as the woman came in and took a seat on her bed beside Pudgy. "They don't expect you to write an apology and the suspension has been lifted after today."

"Goody," Petunia sneered.

Red hair flopping as her head snapped up from her lap, her mum hissed, "What's that supposed to mean, missy? I went to all that trouble to get your name cleared and you aren't _grateful_?"

Standing up then, Petunia yelled, "I didn't _want_ to go back! I hate it there!"

"If you joined pep squad or the glee club-"

" _No_ , Mum," the teenager growled. "I don't want part of stupid, vapid things! I _want_ to be part of something important!" Spinning around, Petunia howled, "The only reason I go to school at all is so I can go to university to be a veterinarian afterwards!"

"A _vet_? I thought we agreed you'd take a typing course in London and work as a secretary if you didn't meet a nice boy." Her mother frowned as Petunia's chest still heaved with her anger.

"That was _your_ plan for me!" Petunia snapped. "I _hate_ typing! I don't care about doing it right or about being fast at it! I just want to _help_ others! _Help animals_!"

Her mother looked to Pudgy who'd gone to hide under the bed. "Your father should never have bought you that dog. Dogs are for little boys."

Petunia slapped her mother. "Don't you _ever_ say that again, he's the best friend I have besides Severus, and I won't listen to you say _that he should never have happened!_ "

Hand on her cheek; Petunia's mum stared at her as if she was seeing her daughter for the first time in years. "What happened to my little girl? You used to be so sweet. You used to like no better than to be my little helper and pick flowers for your father and me."

"I haven't been her since Lily died," Petunia snarled.

Tears welling in her eyes, her mother got up and left the teenager alone once again with only her dog and letter for company. Not caring one whit, Petunia went to her desk and calmed as Pudgy settled at her feet so she could pour out her troubles to the only other soul she felt was able to relate in the slightest.

* * *

Severus couldn't come to her graduation as he was still in school, but when he came back taller than when he left and dark hair cropped shorter than she'd ever seen it, she grinned and accepted the little gift he gave her in the front of her family's home.

"It's a cosmetic potion. It's basically a perfume that's scent will smell like whatever's most pleasing to the person who can smell you," he explained as she gazed at the blue-green bottle

Trying a little dab on her wrist, she offered it to the gangly young man. "What's it smell like to you?"

"Dianthus," he admitted.

Looking into dark eyes, Petunia pushed her lips onto his and sighed as he responded in kind. Pulling away a little later, she smiled at him and whispered, "I'll be at uni next year and you'll be at Hogwarts."

"Nothing new there - we'll be separated, as usual," Severus muttered against her shoulder.

Hugging him so they could sway together, Petunia told her friend "I don't know what uni will be like, but I might meet a boy and..."

He pulled away. "Don't, please," Severus begged. "You're all I have."

Laughing softly, Petunia kissed his cheek and asked, "Do you know why I talked to you in the first place all those years ago?"

"I haven't really thought about it," the teenager admitted.

Meeting his dark gaze, Petunia brushed his bangs from his face and told him, "You were little. About the age my dead sister would have been and I felt like maybe if you were all alone like me and Pudgy, we could be friends or step-siblings or something."

"We're a bit more than that now, aren't we?" Severus murmured questioningly.

Kissing his cheek, she agreed, "We _are_ , but..." She sighed. "You're fifteen. I'm eighteen. We have two years before we can be together all the time and I don't want you to feel bad if somehow this doesn't end up working over the next two years, okay? We're separate a lot and I might meet a boy, you might meet a girl. Who knows!"

Holding her close, Severus shook. "Please tell me you won't try and fall in love with someone else."

"I won't try," she concurred.

And with that, she took his hand and led him toward her home. "You should probably come see Pudgy. He's quite old now and he'll likely pass any day now..."

Pudgy died the next day and Severus helped her bury him in the backyard. As she cried over his grave, Severus rubbed a hand up and down her back and summed up their friend.

"He was one of the good ones."

Wiping at her tears, Petunia agreed around a sob. "That h-he was."

* * *

Waiting at the children's park she spent much of her childhood at, Petunia kicked some pebbles and waited for Severus. About a half hour later, he showed up. He was skinnier than he was over holidays and sporting a busted lip. Darting forward, she put a handkerchief to it.

"Oh, darling! What happened?" she tittered.

His larger hand enveloping hers, Severus smiled softly. "My da didn't take my declaration of independence all that well."

Relieved to see that the wound was done bleeding, Petunia tucked away the sullied fabric and kissed her boyfriend. "He's quite upset you're going to become a potioneer and not a welder like him, isn't he?"

"I went to magical school, I don't know what he expects of me."

Petunia smiled and rested comfortably against the broad chest of her boyfriend. "He's just as unreasonable as my parents. They wanted me to take a typing course and settle down with a _nice_ boy."

Wrapping his arm around her, Severus pouted. "I'm not nice?"

She kissed his chin. "They're idiots."

"So are mine." Her boyfriend sighed.

Walking away from the park hand in hand then, Petunia told him about the new flat she was planning to rent with a girlfriend and hopefully, him as well. The sun setting behind them, she finished her description with a smile and exciting note. "They allow dogs."

Raising an eyebrow, Severus suggested, "Pudgy II?"

"I was thinking I'd name it Tubby if it were a boy, and Nina, if it were a girl," Petunia explained.

Smiling at each other, the couple kissed again and thought only of what lay beyond Cokeworth.

(Absolution).


	2. Walk the Cat Back

**_Walk the Cat Back_ **

* * *

Severus never quite knew why or how, but somehow as a small toddler of two, maybe even younger, a cat with half-missing ear showed up outside his family's kitchen door in the middle of a downpour and his da let it in.

His father not quite cruel yet, Severus could recall leaving his dinner at the table to go and wrap his arm around the man's leg.

"Ca'" he'd said, he's sure.

His dad rubbed the back of Severus's head with his far larger hand and agreed with a mild chortle. "That it is - a fighter too from the looks of it."

"Why in merlin's name did you let that mangy thing in?" Mother had asked in a dismayed voice as she put down her fork from dinner.

Reaching down to give the bruiser a scratch beneath its chin, Severus father's had answered "His soldier days are over, Eileen, can't you see? Why in sam hill else would he stop at our door in the middle of that mess when he could be finding shelter out across the road beneath the Rover's truck?"

Severus can recall his mother making an unhappy noise as the cat turned his brown - almost red - eyes to him and bared its teeth in a semblance of a smirk. From that moment on, Severus had liked the cat and decided he would be his best friend.

Launching his uncoordinated limbs forward, he'd wrapped his tiny body around the scrawny creature and babbled at his da and mum "Ca', this is Ca'."

Shaking his head, his father had turned to his mother and said: "We got a real winner of a boy here, Eileen, he just name the cat _Cat_."

"He's not even three, Tobias, what do you expect?" Eileen had sneered.

Argument blooming right in front of him, Severus hadn't even thought to scurry to a corner and hide away as he usually would. His new friend Cat was by far the most interesting of the two. And maybe, if Cat hadn't been a more seasoned fellow, he would have allowed them to stay by the door and within attacking distance of his parents; but as his father had said, Cat was an old soldier and lead them safely and quickly out of the kitchen and to the living room to hide under the couch and wait for the battle to end.

* * *

Throwing a stick for his new friend Petunia's dog, he looked up at the older girl who was hugging herself around the waist.

"Your dog is nice, but I have a cat and he's _way_ better."

A smile tugged at the older girl's lips as she bent down to hook an arm around his neck in a cheerful, buddy-like way. "Is that so?" She teased.

"Uh-huh," he answered as he squirmed out from beneath her hold. Severus didn't like touching. Especially the kind that brought you so close you could smell the other person's breath if you tried.

Looking a little sadly at him as Pudgy yapped at her feet for the stick to be thrown again, Petunia asked, "What's your cat's name?"

"Cat," Severus answer happily. "And he's a good one."

Smothering back what he was sure had to be giggling, Petunia turned her head and caused Severus to give an upset stomp of his little boy foot. "Don't laugh!" he shouted angrily. "Don't you dare!"

Her vibrating cutting off short, she'd turned her blond head back to him wearing an expression of shock and guilt. "Oh I didn't mean it like that Severus…" she'd tried to soothe.

But his feelings had been hurt and he'd run off before she could go on any further.

Taking the quickest route home, Severus ignored the fact that his mum was probably out grocery shopping and his dad sleeping away the drink on the couch as he ran into his family's home and to the back where his bedroom was.

Once there, his eyes darted from his bed to his dresser, to his chair and then to the shelf next to the window where Cat was dozing. Staring at the white-gray creature with tear-filled eyes, he'd asked: "D'you think your name's silly too?"

Opening one dark red eye, the animal hopped down and rubbed his body up against Severus. Crouching down as he sniveled, Severus let the fairly affectionate animal continue his comforting until he heard his da coming down the creaking hall.

Terrified for not himself then, he'd hissed, "Hide Cat!" Before attempting to climb out his window when his da grabbed the back of his shirt.

Eyes bloodshot and face pallid, the man didn't even flinch as he punched his young son in the jaw. Toppling into the wall and hitting his head, Severus gazed up with cloudy vision at his father as he took off his belt.

At first, Severus was the one screaming. Then, his da was shouting and he could hear Cat yowling as his father attempted to shake off him and his claws.

When he did, the little boy's father gave the cat a kick and left the room with one last curse on his lips "damn cat!"

Back covered in new welts and probably several cuts, Severus had wriggled over to his pet and whispered, "Are you okay?"

Cat opened one eye and made a rattling noise in his throat as he picked himself up to settle close next to Severus. Together, cat and boy stayed in the bedroom dreaming of the day when life was not a fight for survival.

* * *

When his parents and newly born sister saw him off to Hogwarts in his too-big robes and Cat's cage in hand, Severus smiled brightly at them all. "I'll see you at Christmas," he told them.

His father, in a mild stupor, only blinked as his mother fussed with his new sister's bonnet.

"Mum? Da?" He'd pleaded after a moment.

Looking up from her daughter, Eileen gave a short smile and said, "Yes, of course, my love."

Severus's dad still said nothing and with a sigh, he moved forward to accept the kiss to his temple from his mother and bowed his head as to give his baby sister a quick peck.

"You better know how to say Severus when I come back," he told the infant.

His mother laughed almost silently and gave him a quick nudge toward the Express. "You don't want to miss it, my love," she told him as he hurried toward the gleaming red train.

Just as he was to take a step onto the express, though, Severus was tripped and went sprawling onto the platform. He heard snickering from in front of him as he saw a couple of boys hurry on. Grinding his teeth as he picked up Cat's carrier to see that the creature was unharmed but absolutely terrified, Severus quickly strode after the two to confront them.

"Hey!" he snapped at the two.

They both turned. Each wore a similar cheeky smile and kept their chins up with pure cockiness. Face flushed with fury, he held out Cat's carrier. "You could have hurt him!" he yelled.

Looking at one another, the bespectacled one declared, "We don't know what you mean!"

"Arses! The both of you!" Severus snapped as he shoved past the duo.

One grabbed him by the back of his robe and Severus went reeling into a wall. Too quick for him to register, the other youth was in his face wearing the meanest scowl he'd ever seen on another boy's face. "I'd apologize if I were you," the steely-eyed boy growled.

Jutting his chin, Severus snarled "Not in your lifetime!"

"Then I guess I'll have to make you, huh?" replied the boy with false cheer. Raising his fist, he got one punch in before he fell back with a high, womanly shriek.

Cat had gotten out of his cage and attached himself to the unfortunate youth's balls. Gaping, Severus barely knew what to do – _no one knew what to do._ **  
**

It took the candy trolley lady's sense to detach Cat from the boy and shove him into Severus's arms. "Put that menace in his cage!" she ordered.

Too dumbfounded to do anything but listen, Severus did so and went off thinking only of the tale he was going to start his letter to 'Tuney off with.

* * *

Severus looked up from his charms book. Twisting his neck in a nearly impossible way he was pleased to find he was the sole occupant of the Slytherin common room for one. Severus smiled at Cat, who was looking at him from his feet. "I think it's time I read Petunia's letter," he said. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out the envelope that encased his friend's letter and tore into it eagerly. Severus laughed at its contents. Along with the letter, there were a couple of photos from Halloween. One was of Pudgy. He was dressed like a thestral, but instead of looking fierce or scary, he looked kind of cute – just as one might expect of a baby thestral.

"What you got there, Snape?" One of his roommates, Wilkes, asked.

Tensing up, Severus silently cursed his luck before carefully handing the pictures to his year mate. There were more than just the one of Pudgy. In another, his little sister was hanging off the dog's neck dressed in a white sheet so she could be a tiny-tot ghost.

"This is a Muggle picture," Wilkes remarked.

Taking it back, Severus shrugged. "So?"

Raising an eyebrow, the other boy showed off his dimples with a smirk. "I thought you said your mother was a Prince."

"She _is_ ," he told his housemate. "This is a picture from my friend."

Whistling low, the boy leaned in much too close and with mirthless eyes asked, "What's Malfoy going to think when he learns he's been helping a little Muggle-lover like yourself Snivellus."

Cat meandered up from Severus's feet. He glared at Wilkes with his murky eyes before curling up in a ball in his lap. "Do whatever you like, you prat, I know who my friends are and they certainly aren't any of you," Severus hissed.

Feigning hurt, the taller boy laughed and walked off – likely to write Lucius. Scratching Cat behind the ears, Severus whispered, "Still got a bit of power left in you yet, don't you?"

In answer, the white-gray cat kneaded his paws into Severus's knees. He began to ponder coffins. Surely a cat as regal and battle-scarred as this one deserved only the best.

Cat made it to Christmas Eve. Dying early that afternoon, Severus wrapped the corpse up in an old dishtowel and ignored how his little sister called for him to come back as he ran out the door and to Petunia's.

Pounding on the door with Cat cradled close, he'd just about burst into tears when his friend opened the door.

"He's dead," he told her. "Cat's dead." And without thinking, he presented the dead animal to her.

Poised and eyes soft, Petunia peeled back the dishtowel and stroked the white-gray face of Cat. "I'm sorry, Sev."

Crying, he let her hug him and they stood there a long time with the corpse between them before he agreed to bury Cat in the park they used to play at as children.

After burying Cat, Severus said, "I'm going to plant him lilies next summer."

"What a wonderful idea," replied Petunia, voice cracking.

She walked him home and when Severus went to his bedroom it felt lifeless.

* * *

Severus hadn't meant to. Truly he hadn't. But Charity was such a pretty Ravenclaw with her curly hair and shy smile…

Her lips had tasted like blueberries too.

But then he'd remembered how Petunia's had tasted like cherry lip balm and knew what he'd done was wrong.

Pacing his dorm, Severus wondered if he should write Petunia and tell her of his failing. Or maybe it would be better if he let it stay where it was – in the past. It was times like these he missed having Cat around. He'd always been a good touchstone. But he didn't want another cat either because none would ever replace the old soldier. They just couldn't. Cat was a once in a lifetime sort of pet and to contemplate another seemed a defacement of his memory.

Eventually, Severus sat down and instead opened up the letter his little sister sent him. She was six now and learning her letters at school. He read the message to go with the rather atrocious scribbles that were her letter.

_i miss you Sevie. Daddy yels lots and mummy doesn't take me to the libary every weakend like you did._

Studying the picture, Severus was depressed to find that it was a little girl crying.

Putting his head in his hands, he wished things were different. If Severus had been a Muggle like his father had always wanted… but no. Then he'd never have accomplished half the things he's done now and his passion for potions would have withered and died. If he hadn't come to Hogwarts, Cat never would have pierced Sirius Black's balls on the Hogwarts Express.

That cracked a smile and laugh from him. Using that, Severus let his lighter state of mind make his decision.

He wrote 'Tuney.

A few hours later she sent a letter back confessing to going to the movies with a chap from her biology class. They hadn't kissed and had only shared a popcorn and held hands, but she'd felt just as badly as Severus who'd done far worse.

Through the course of several more letters, they changed their status from boyfriend and girlfriend to dating - if only so they would not have to feel so much guilt when they slipped up and allowed the need for intimacy to win over loyalty to each other.

In the end, Severus would reflect and think it was for the best. This way, no one had felt so badly hurt when the other mentioned minor flirtations with another.

* * *

When Severus finished Hogwarts, the wizarding world was just a breath away from war and he knew that it'd be better if he took his leave from it. The Slytherins already had some doubts about him as he was friends with a muggle and had snogged a Muggleborn, but both facts were known only so vaguely that they did not condemn him - especially when his skills in potions surpassed that of their professor's.

He might have been a bit of an oddball, but he did not proclaim his side in it all as some of his year mates had done (James Potter and Sirius Black in particular). So he was allowed to disappear from the world almost.

On his way to meet with Petunia at the children's park after telling his father his plans to take a year off before going to school for a potions master degree had left him with a bloody lip and further disappointed.

What could his father possibly think he'd do? Did he really expect Severus to work at the factories? Like some _muggle_? Severus was willing to live here to be with Petunia, but he was going to take advantage of his Hogwarts education and do some good in the magical world by becoming a famous potioneer.

Smiling at his girlfriend as he came into her view, he let her come and fret over him.

"Oh, darling! What happened?" she exclaimed as she put a handkerchief to his lip.

Covering her hand, Severus let himself be soothed by her touch (Petunia was _safe_ ). After a moment, the woman put away the cloth and kissed his still sore lips. "He's quite upset you're going to become a potioneer and not a welder like him, isn't he?"

He marveled at her intuitiveness and muttered, "I went to a school for wizards and witches, how he managed to hang on to the belief I'd take up a Muggle profession after a magical education, I'll never know." _  
_

Petunia smiled then and snuggled close to him. "He's just as unreasonable as my parents. They wanted me to get an English degree and settle down with a _nice_ boy."

Wrapping his arm around her, Severus joked, "I'm not nice?"

She kissed his chin. "They're idiots."

"So are mine." Severus sighed.

Walking away from the park hand in hand then, Petunia told him about the new flat she was planning to rent with a girlfriend, and him as well, if he liked. The sun setting behind them, she finished her description with a smile and hopeful note: "They allow dogs."

Raising an eyebrow, Severus suggested, "Pudgy II?" As he briefly wondered if this flat was agreeable to cats too.

"I was thinking I'd name it Tubby if it were a boy and Nina if it were a girl," Petunia explained to him.

Smiling at one another, they kissed again and dreamed of their future outside of Cokeworth.

(Exoneration).

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and let me know what you think with a comment/kudo!


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